Disturbed Ireland : $b being the letters written during the winter of 1880-81Becker, Bernard H. (Bernard Henry)
History
Disturbed Ireland : $b being the letters written during the winter of 1880-81
Becker, Bernard H. (Bernard Henry)
Ireland -- Social conditions; Working class -- Ireland
On the greenest of all possible fields in front of the tents the
officers commanding the escort, the leaders of the Ulster Brigade, and
the resident magistrates were received by Mr. Boycott, who appeared in
a dark shooting-dress and cap, and carried a double-barrelled gun in
his hand. A little further on stood Mrs. Boycott and her nephew and
niece, the house itself seeming almost deserted. The workmen, like the
troopers, formed in line, and appeared to be equally well armed.
Presently the arduous task of stowing the uninvited Northern
contingent was undertaken. The troops, who had remained on the ground
all night, and had been reduced to straits by the failure of the
commissariat, had, after some reflection and the exercise of
considerable patience, taken care of themselves as best they might.
Sheep had been slain, and chickens and geese had lent savoury aid to
the banquet of the warriors, who also, in the absence of other fuel,
were constrained to make short work of Lord Erne's trees. But they had
done their work cheerfully in the cold and wet, and had pitched tents
for the Ulster men. When the belligerent "agriculturists" came to be
told off into these tents an amusing difficulty, illustrative of the
light handling necessary to the conduct of affairs in Ireland,
interrupted the dulness which had hitherto oppressed all present.
Those "agriculturists" who hailed from Cavan insisted that they would
foregather only with Cavan men, while the men of Monaghan were equally
indisposed to give a Cavan man "as much space as a lark could stand
on" in their tents. Moreover some jealousy was exhibited as to the
situation and furniture of the tents assigned to the two wings of the
army of relief. At last harmony was restored, and the edifying
spectacle of Cavan and Monaghan fighting it out then and there, while
Mayo looked on, was averted, greatly to the sorrow of a Mayo friend of
mine, whose eyes sparkled and whose mouth watered at the delicious
prospect.
It seems that Mr. Boycott, fully aware of the feelings of Mayo folk
after having Orangemen set on them, is about to leave the country, at
least for a while, after his crop has been got in--probably a rational
decision on his part. Meanwhile he is having a hard time of it between
friends and foes. His enemies have spoiled a great part of his crop,
and what they have left his defenders threaten to devour.
BALLINROBE, CO. MAYO, _Nov. 13._
A wild night of wind and rain was borne with unflagging spirit by the
unlucky troops condemned to the most uncongenial of tasks. The fair
green of Ballinrobe is now a quagmire, and the men under canvas have
had the roughest possible night of it. Only two tents were actually
carried away, but the hurricane made all those in the others
uncomfortable enough. For ordinary pedestrians, perhaps, the slush of
this morning was better than the sticky mud of yesterday, in which it
was impossible to move; but the autumnal charm of Ballinrobe was gone
for this year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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